reliance
Americannoun
-
confident or trustful dependence.
- Synonyms:
- assurance, faith, trust, confidence
-
something or someone relied on.
noun
-
dependence, confidence, or trust
-
something or someone upon which one relies
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of reliance
Explanation
The word reliance is the noun form of the verb rely, which means to depend. Your reliance on the Internet for your information will be your undoing, if the power ever goes out. A person's reliance on something is their dependence on it. A mime's reliance on silence is the key to his performance: if he speaks, he'll be ruined. Your reliance on the kindness of strangers makes sense when you consider that you'll never run out of strangers upon whom to rely. Too bad you can't just lean on the folks that you know.
Vocabulary lists containing reliance
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 7
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Space
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"Rosa Parks" by Nikki Giovanni
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The U.S. is trying to reduce its reliance on China for rare earths, which go into everything from drones to MRI scanners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026
Huawei, at the forefront of Chinese efforts to reduce reliance on US semiconductor technology, said in a statement that the full range of its Ascend products support DeepSeek's V4 series.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
It said this would "help get bills down for good in the long term" by reducing the UK's reliance on gas for electricity production.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
However, the broader outlook for global LNG supply remains more favorable, with new liquefaction capacity outside the Gulf set to reduce reliance on Qatar and ease competition for cargoes between Europe and Asia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
You may attempt to defend your enervating use of the passive voice by pointing out that the only alternative is excessive reliance upon the first person personal pronoun or upon the pontifical We.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
